The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-09-17
Special Contributors.
MARY LYON AND HER WORK.
BY REV. MARY DELONG.
(Neenah, Wis.,

The recent semi-centennial celebra-
tion at Mount Holyoke (Mass.) Semi
nary, suggests few words regarding
Mary Lyon, a pioneer in the work of
female education. Few of the women
of this day know what they owe to Miss
Lyon and those like her, who have so
smoothly paved for them the pleasant
ways of learning. One hundred years
ago girls were not allowed to attend
any of the public schools of the coun-
try, even to say nothing of the colleges
and higher institutions of learning. In
176S, it was voted in town meeting in
Northampton, Mass, not ito be at
any expense for the schooling of girls"
In Hatfield, where the founder of what
is now Smith College, was born and
buried, the only privilege which girls
possessed less than hundred years
ago, was to sit on the doors step of the
school-hOuse and hear the boys read
and recite their lessons. Less than
CCululJ dSO IliC laws VI A1cloOCAChttoCbtO
did not recognize woman as a teacher
in the public schools. When the first
high-schOOl for girls was opened in
Boston, in 1925, there was such great
outcry against the innovation, and so
many girls applied for admission that
the scheme was abandoned, and was
not again attempted until 1858. In
1926 the school committee of Concord,
Mass, passed a resolution that ''from
che first day of December to the first
day of April, no misses under ten years
of age shall attend school in the center
of the town; nor any over the age of
ten years where there are forty male
scholars attending the school,"
Such was the actual position of young
women in this country, with reference
to the means and opportunities of an
education, when, in 1887, Mary Lyon
opened her school at South Hadley.
OF course, under such circumstances,
she did not escape severe, unmeasured
criticism. Her only reply was, "What
do | that is wrong ?' Strong in the
consciousness of right, she persevered
and at last conquered gloriously.
Mary Lyon was born in February,
1897, and died in March, 1919. Born
and nurtured in a family remarkable
for their religious sentiment, it was
natural that religion should be one of
the ruling motives of her life, and that
she should have accomplished most
through healthy, persistent, moral
strength. Among the few choice spir-
its who preceded Miss Lyon in the
work of female education, was the Rev.
Joseph Emerson, who had opened
girls school in Byfeld, Mass. She
became one of his pupils. He was
Christian gentleman and scholar, and
showed his noble respect for women by
teaching and treating them as the
softer, not the weaker sex. She saw,
through his eyes, an ideal woman in an
ideal world, and was not disobedient
unto the heavenly vision. In his school
she was fitted for her work. One of
woman, Zilpha p. Grant, the romance
of whose life is told by Gail Hamilton,
in the North american Reuie,o for OctC-
ber, 1886, under the title, IAN Amer
ican Queen" After their graduation,
Miss Grant opened school in Derry,
with Miss Lyon as an assistant. Ow-
ing to some friction between Miss Grant
and her trustees, on strictly religious
matters, partly also from lack of organ
ization and endowment, the school did
not become a permanent institution,
and was closed finally on account of
Miss Grants health. But the vision
had never darkened in the soul of Mary
Lyon. Alone, by her own energy,
moral eaTnestness, and sacred purpose,
she organized, endowed, and so perpet-
uated the school at South Hadley
When her scheme became known, and
she began to ask assistance to build
and furnish such a school, the whole
thing was declared to be impractical,
unnatural, unscriptural, unfeminine,
unchristian, and whatever else was
wrong and visionary. 1t was declared
to be an innovation unheard of and un-
called for; the women did not want to
be educated, and this in the face of
the fact that the girls school in BOs-
ton was closed because so many sought